Commanding attention wasn't difficult for someone like Fernando Vaca. His ability to tell stories and motivate students were talents he used to become an exceptional math teacher for the Harlandale Independent School District.

“Coming from a rather poor home, he realized how intelligence and ability is really not limited to one kind of home,” his wife, Irene Vaca, said.

Fernando Vaca died June 25 of lung cancer. He was 75.

Before Vaca, a San Antonio native, embarked on his 20-year career teaching math for Harlandale, he was in the Army.

Vaca learned Russian in Monterey, Calif., for a year and later translated Russian in West Berlin, his wife said.

“It was a very elite group ... They were all listening to the Russians,” she said. “There were limitations of what we could do. It was an interesting time; we weren't allowed to ride certain lines of transportation,” she added. “It was kind of an intense time back then. They were expected to burn their papers and be killed if anything happened.”

Fernando Vaca spent two years in Berlin, and Irene Vaca lived there for a little more than a year, she said.

After returning to San Antonio around 1965, Fernando Vaca continued his education at Trinity University and worked odd jobs before being inspired to becoming a teacher.

The couple started a family in 1966, the year their eldest, Erin Vaca, was born.

Shortly after her birth, Vaca sought a job that was more family-friendly.

Irene Vaca had been teaching in the Harlandale district for about three years when her husband was hired.

“He was an instant success; he was good at explaining things to kids. He always did what he thought would work well in the classroom,” Irene Vaca said.

Erin Vaca said her father understood his students, as many performed well and aspired to higher goals.

“They (some of the students) went to Princeton, Columbia, and some have become professors,” she said.

His students were impressed enough that they kept in touch, she said.

Former Harlandale student Lorraine Pulido, who works in communications and public affairs for the city of San Antonio, compared Vaca to a modern-day Jaime Escalante, the California math teacher depicted in the Edward James Olmos film “Stand and Deliver.”